After a brief hiatus, the SEC's high-profile insider trading trial against renowned cardiologist Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah is back in court. According to the docket entries for the case, the parties participated in nine days of trial between August 24 and September 3. The trial was then put on hold for over a month, but resumed yesterday.

On Monday of this week, Magistrate Judge Linnea R. Johnson issued an interesting ruling that will prohibit Dr. Zacharia from presenting character evidence at the trial. Zachariah argued that his "character for truthfulness" had been attacked by the SEC, and that he was entitled to present witnesses testifying to his good character and reputation in the community.

The court found, however, that Zachariah's character for truthfulness had not been attacked. Rather, the court wrote, the SEC's cross-examination of Zachariah had attacked his substantive testimony about issues to be determined in the case. These issues included his involvement with certain stocks, his representations to the SEC, and his financial dealings with his son and brother. The court found that such questioning was "entirely fair and proper under the Federal Rules of Evidence."

Last month, the Broward Bulldog reported that Zachariahtook the stand in the case and denied any wrongdoing, testifying that no one had tipped him off to inside information. “I made millions of dollars in the market, and I lost millions of dollars in the market,” Zachariah stated. "One time I took a portfolio from $40 million up to $60 million in two months. You’d think I was a mini-Warren Buffet. Now, you think I’m a fool.”